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Full Idea
There cannot be any motion other than relative; …if there was one only body in being it could not possibly move.
Gist of Idea
All motion is relative, so a single body cannot move
Source
George Berkeley (The Principles of Human Knowledge [1710], §112)
Book Ref
Berkeley,George: 'The Principles of Human Knowledge etc.', ed/tr. Warnock,G.J. [Fontana 1962], p.121
A Reaction
This seems to agree with with Leibniz in denying the Newton-Clarke idea of absolute space. See Idea 2100. Suppose there were two bodies racing towards one another, when one of them suddenly vanished?
Related Idea
Idea 2100 Space and time are purely relative [Leibniz]
| 12709 | Motion is not absolute, but consists in relation [Leibniz] |
| 6735 | All motion is relative, so a single body cannot move [Berkeley] |
| 21231 | Assume the speed of light is constant for all observers, and the laws of physics are the same [Einstein, by Farmelo] |
| 21230 | The theory is 'special' because it sticks to observers moving straight, at constant speeds [Einstein, by Farmelo] |
| 14613 | Special relativity won't determine a preferred frame, but we can pick one externally [Smart] |
| 20628 | The electric and magnetic are tightly linked, and viewed according to your own motion [Close] |
| 20622 | All motions are relative and ambiguous, but acceleration is the same in all inertial frames [Close] |
| 21109 | Space itself can expand (and separate its contents) at faster than light speeds [Krauss] |
| 14016 | The idea of simultaneity in Special Relativity is full of verificationist assumptions [Bourne] |
| 14019 | Relativity denies simultaneity, so it needs past, present and future (unlike Presentism) [Bourne] |